Introduction to the Philidor defense

The opening ideas, main variations, brief history and principles of the Philidor Defense.

The Philidor is one of the oldest openings. It was named after François-André Danican Philidor, an 18th century French composer and chess player, who was the first to approach chess in a non-romantic way. Not blundering away his pawns, but caring for them and turning small advantages into victories. He was the one who said the famous quote: “Pawns are the soul of chess.”

In the vast sea of opening theory which branches out of 1. e4 e5, the Philidor Defense always seems to be left behind and neglected, making way for the Spanish, Italian, or Scotch positions which arise after Nc6, or the Russian game with Nf6. The calm, seemingly pacifist d6, never really makes the headlines.

The reason for that (now that I know the ideas of the opening and understand its depth) eludes me. As opposed to all of the above mentioned variations and openings, the Philidor is versatile and flexible, seldom leading to one type of middlegame, which is the case with most defenses to e4.

Because of the flexibility of d6, the soul of the position (as Philidor would say) can change its nature; the pawn structure can change and often does change dramatically. This means that a Philidor middlegame could resemble the Sicilian, the Petrov, the Spanish or the Scotch, just to name a few openings. This makes the reality very different to what most people consider the Philidor Defense to be. It’s not boring! It’s not symmetrical and without chances! It’s a dynamic, complex opening which requires deep understanding and knowledge of theoretical lines!

When you also consider the fact that most people discard it as being a benign sideline, the Philidor becomes a dangerous weapon in the eyes of the sly e5 player! In many lines white will have to be precise and exact, which means that the opening should be taken seriously and studied by the e4 player, same as the lines after Nc6 or Nf6.

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